Old Hampshire Mapped

Towns

Notes
medieval The early printed maps of Hampshire date from the end of the medieval period and onwards; the first county map is by Christopher Saxton, 1575, before that the county is shown on maps of England, or the World.

Medieval England was rural, it was not much urbanised. Some authorities estimate that only 5 per cent of the population of the country lived in towns in the 16th-17th centuries. Towns did exist, but they were small; London had a population of say 50000, York about 8000, a substantial county town might be 2 to 3000 but most towns had hardly a 1000 inhabitants - what we would regard today as a large village. One study gives the averge size of a town in southern England in 1520 as 5 to 600 inhabitants.
towns
on maps		 The maps studied for Old Hampshire Mapped so far (15.3.2005) include the following places shown as towns, ie distinguished by the symbol or style of lettering:-
Saxton 1575Norden 1607 Speed 1611Blaeu 1645Jansson 1646 Blome 1673Morden 1695 Kitchin 1751Harrison 1788
Alton YYYYY YYYY
Andover YYYYY YYYY
Basingstoke YYYYY YYYY
Beaulieu  Y        
Bishops Waltham YYYYY YYYY
Christchurch YYYYY YYYY
Fareham YYYYY YYYY
Fordingbridge  Y    YYYY
Gosport         YY
Havant YY    YYYY
Kingsclere YYYYY YYYY
Lymington YYYYY YYYY
New Alresford YYYYY YYYY
Odiham YYYYY YYYY
Overton  YYYY Y   
Petersfield YYYYY YYYY
Portsmouth YYYYY YYYY
Ringwood YYYYY YYYY
Romsey YYYYY YYYY
Selborne         Y 
Stockbridge YY    YYYY
Southampton YYYYY YYYY
Southwick Y         
Whitchurch       YYYY
Winchester YYYYY YYYY


criteria Criteria for judging whether a place is or is not a 'town' have been suggested at various times. I have heard one historian suggest that you know when a place is a town when you go there; sadly we cannot visit medieval Alton, or wherever. The following ideas are taken for a Hampshire study, derived a report by the Council for British Archaeology:-

markets or fairs:- a charter for a market or fair, perhaps both; but remeber that some villages had these events.

borough status:- reference to burgesses, burgage tenure, etc, or a borough charter, taxation as a borough, representation in Parliament.

town planning:- street patterns, market place, etc.

trades:- existence of tradesmen serving more than local needs.

building plots:- property boundaries that indicate a deliberate town layout.

judicial centre:- local court.

These ideas have not been used in Old Hampshire Mapped, we just present the evidence of maps, but, with reference to the books listed, are some of the crieria that might be applied to a study of Hampshire's towns.
books

REFERENCES

Cornwall, John: 1962=1963: English County Towns in the Fifteen Twenties: Economic History Review: series.2 vol.15: p.61

Heighway: 1972: Erosion of History, Archaeology and Planning in Towns: Council for British Archaeology

Hughes, Michael: 1976: Small Towns of Hampshire: Hampshire Archaeological Committee (University of Southampton, Southampton, Hampshire)

Platt, Colin: 1976: English Medieval Town: Book Club Associates (Lodon)
General index

Old Hampshire Mapped